Cost
by SailorToni
Summary: "Nocturne is one of the Ancients who sealed away Pariah Dark, but he doesn't remember who the others were. His memories didn't fade with time; they were taken. How did this happen and why?" - Prompt from Hollyflash for the Phic Phight.


The light purple skies of dawn contrast with the giant ghost hovering above the city of Amity Park. His long robes drifting into the surrounding cloud vapor. His laughter cracking against Danny's ears.  
"You've been at this for hours Phantom. You can't lay a finger on me!" he was right. Every punch, kick, and blast flew through him, like he was made of clouds. And each time he would just blow into his pipe sending Danny back into the street below. The sickly-sweet song from the pipe sent the wind blasting through the buildings, creating wind tunnels, throwing cars, bikes, and a dog at poor Danny.

This constant back and forth felt like he was stuck in a video game. Trying everything to find a weak spot on an impossible boss. After gently putting the dog behind a wall, he ruffled his hair,

"This is just great. I fail my math quiz, get dunked on by Dash, and now I'm not allowed to get any sleep thanks to this guy." Danny said. He builds a ball of blue light with in his hands and blast it ahead, creating a solid wall of ice for him to take cover. He repeats it four more times, inching his way closer and closer to the ghost in bright blue robes and black opera mask. The ghost stops to take a breath, rising his pipe, giving Danny the perfect opportunity to blast it. Shattering it into a hundred pieces.  
"You, foolish boy! What have you done!"  
"I just saved the city. Duh," Flipping the Fenton thermos up, sucking up the blue robe ghost into the tiny prison.

Where the ghost once stood, floated, just above the skyline reflecting the budding sun rays like a night light. Its round glass surface bubbles under the light, revealing it dark contents. Metal arms stuck out of the jeweled top and stuck to its sides. Moving up and down, rubbing a glaze up and down its sides. Reaching for the handle it was, lighter than Danny thought. And much warmer. The glass orb was radiating heat.  
"I wonder what it is?"

Sitting in his bedroom Danny stared at the thing. Watching it methodically move its golden insect arms around its main body. He reaches out pulling an arm off when the black inside jumps at him, covering his head in thick metallic goo. He wants to scream but as soon as he opens his mouth the goo changes color. Black then white, then pink to green, and in green the world builds upon itself. Black smoke creating walls of grey, and tables full of clay dishes and stacks of paper. The floor has seen better days. Dark green stains spatter across the ground.

At the head of the table sat… Clockwork. But younger? His age wasn't changing and he didn't have a scar across his face. He wore simple purple robes, dotted with rope and buttons holding the thing to his body. To Danny's right Frostbite appeared, complete with all body parts and no scar. Then to his left Undergrowth grew in the chair. His body smaller and more human than Danny remembered it, but the vines were a dead giveaway.

Pandora, in full battle armor joins the table, with Nocturne at her side. His white skin covered in a long gown reflecting the night sky. A single slit was cut down the middle creating a line from his neck to his belly button. Large purple horns grow out of messy black hair.

Finally, at the back of the table sat the ghost from this morning. His black hair braided and twisted to look like the sun, his baby blue robes hung off his body like rags.

"Hello everyone." Clockwork addressed the room, "Welcome to the rebellion." Everyone mumbled their hellos. Frostbite cheerfully waved at everyone.

"Why must you start every meeting with that? If one of Pariah spies were here, we would be tried for treason," said Pandora.

"If one of Pariah's spies made it into this room," Undergrowth began "we would already be doomed."

"And if we fail, we will be tried and quartered either way," Nocturne spoke. The interior of his mouth was missing, his tongue, teeth, and muscles replaced with the same moving pattern on his robes.

"Still, I do not think we should be starting every meeting with a statement of our treason," spoke Pandora.

"I will take your concern into consideration for our next meeting."

"Thank you Cl-"

"Members of this not-a-rebellion, we have received news of Pariah's forces approaching the land of the Far North." Clockwork said, his deadpan expression served as a personal insult to Pandora.

"He's right, a few of my uncle's hunters have been forced to flee their post." Frostbite pointed to the map on the table. Hazy ink blotches marked where land might be in the ghost zone. Where Frostbite touched, the map created small figures of ink filled hunters, rising out of the map.

"Pariah has been trying to take over the north for years. Each time the cold has thwarted him. Why should we be concerned this time? It seems like the yetis can take care of themselves," spoke the ghost in the blue robes.

"Yetis?" Frostbite snarled.

"Anemoi," Clockwork gestured to the ghost in blue robes "We care because we need the help of the Far North and any threat to them, becomes a threat to us, and our cause."

"But Anemoi has a point. If the people of the Far North retreat into their forts, they can just wait his troops out. Throwing the frozen bones right back at him."

"You are assuming Pandora, that Pariah is trying to take the land by brute force, but look at where the troops have been attacked." Nocturne's tendrils pointed to the hunters. They were spread out. Attacked in almost random locations. Some where near the border, a few where in the forest of ice, and one was in the middle of a frozen lake, "Last time he attacked. It was in a straight line, leading towards the main city, but now. He is pushing them back. The hunters were not killed, right Frostbite?"

"Correct, they all manage to escape with their lives."

"Are you suggesting Pariah is trying to shove all the yetis back into their hide out? Why he already knows where it is?" Anemoi shouted, "Ghost don't need food like the living, he can't starve them out, that would take centuries."

"Of course, not Anemoi. Only an infantile moron would think such a strategy possible, or even suggest the idea in good company." Anemoi growled, rising from his chair.

"Nocturne, Anemoi!" The two backed away at Clockwork's command.

"If we agree with this theory, that Pariah is pushing the people of the Far North back, then for reason? What does he have to gain from pushing them back," Pandora said.

"What if Pariah knows about the rebellion?" Undergrowth's words divide the room.

"What do you mean?" spoke Anemoi, his hingers gripping the table.

"If Pariah suspected a rebellion, it would be a reasonable conclusion that a rebellion would look to his enemies for allies," Nocturne started.

"A rebellion without aid or supplies poses no threat to him," Clockwork finished.

"How would he even know! We have crawled in secrecy for the past twenty years, meeting in caves and hobbles to discuss plans. He wouldn't know about such a thing unless someone here told him!" Anemoi said staring at Nocturne.

"How quick you are to suggest betray. Pariah has been king for three hundred years, and has destroyed any rebellion that has risen to take him out. DO you not think he would be on the lookout for any new threat upon his rule." Nocturne shouted back.

"We have left no clue for him to find! No threat to suspect! He should be bind to our actions and have no reason to cut off the Far North, unless someone here has either made a grave mistake or given us away."

"And you look at me? I have been here from the start unlike _others_ here."

"Nocturne! Anemoi!"

"You work in the castle, you are there every day pleasuring yourself in the spoils of war while lecturing us about our choices. How do we know you are not just using us for your own goals?"

"I am there as the eyes and ears of this rebellion. Making sure that we are not found out!"

"Then tell me eyes and ears! DO you know for a fact that Pariah knows about us?"

If looks could kill, Nocturne would've have given Anemoi a second death. "No. No, I don't know."

"Some spy you are."

"ANEMOI!" Clockworks word rung the walls like bells on Sunday morning, "Nocturne has been with us since the beginning and has given us more than enough information to aid us. While I understand you are not a fan of him, he has done more for this rebellion than others. IF Pariah knows about us, then he does not know about US. He is attacking out allies, hoping to drag us out into the open." The room is silent. Anemoi sits down, after he watches Nocturne do the same.

"Then we must let the people of the Far North handle this one their own." Pandora breaks the quiet.

"They are our allies and my people. If they are in danger then we must help." Frostbite replied.

The room begins to dissolve into smoke and goo once more, as green becomes pink, and pink becomes white, and white returns to darkness. Sucking the goo into its round prison. Freeing Danny's head.

"What was that," He breathes into a quiet room.


End file.
